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Oil prices slump on rising dollar

Xinhua, June 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Oil prices fell on Thursday as a stronger dollar curbed investors' commodity appetite.

Oil prices were under pressure after the U.S. Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but signaled that it plans two more interest increases later this year. The greenback rose against most major currencies on Thursday.

A stronger U.S. dollar weighed on investor sentiment, which made the dollar-denominated oil less attractive for holders of other currencies.

In the previous session, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its weekly report that U.S. crude supplies of last week lost 0.9 million barrels to 531.5 million barrels.

Analysts said the report was actually bullish but the market was still trading lower, which showed investors were reluctant to buy with prices near 50 U.S. dollars a barrel.

The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery lost 1.80 U.S. dollars to settle at 46.21 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery decreased 1.78 U.S. dollars to close at 47.19 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Endit